NIPIGON — Four bears born in early 2024 have finished their sojourn at a sanctuary near Parry Sound and are on their way back to the bush somewhere in the Nipigon district.
All the bears were found orphaned last year in different locations.
Mike McIntosh, founder of the Bear With Us Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre, said Ministry of Natural Resources staff in Thunder Bay and Nipigon arranged to have the animals transferred to his facility at Sprucedale, Ont.
One of the yearlings was emaciated due to a painful and life-threatening rectal prolapse, a condition that sees the lowest part of the bowel turn itself inside out.
It took three separate surgeries to make permanent repairs.
"He was starved, and probably an orphan for that reason," McIntosh told Newswatch in an interview Wednesday. "It took us a long time to treat him."
The animal ultimately made a complete recovery but was only able to hibernate from mid-March to mid-April of this year.
McIntosh said the other bears had a normal hibernation from late October to April.
Three bears that were orphaned during a timber-harvesting operation in the Dryden area last March remain under care.
"They're doing well," McIntosh said. "They'll be going back to that area about this time next year."
The Bear With Us sanctuary is a registered charity dependent on donations from the public as it receives no government funding.
